The instant invention relates to the food industry and more particularly to disposable products which help keep a diner's hand clean while eating messy food.
Keeping one's hands clean while eating messy food, such as chicken wings or ribs, has always posed a problem. Many food products are enjoyed by coating the food in a sauce, while gripping the food with one's fingers. Grease and sauce are easily transferred from the food to an individual's fingers. To remove the grease and sauce from the fingers, the person must often use several napkins. Plentiful napkins and wet wipes help with cleaning up the mess after the fact, but do not do much to prevent the problem.
Other foods pose similar problems. For example, some people are not able to use chopsticks easily or comfortably, so they may choose to eat sushi with their hands. Others may choose to enjoy eating lobster or other shellfish by using their fingers.
The present invention provides disposable protective finger covers, or sleeves, which will cover the wearer's thumb, index finger and middle finger of each hand. Preferably, the covers are fashioned from a grease resistant material, which will prevent the grease and sauce from these types of foods from penetrating through and onto the skin of the wearer.
Each disposable protective cover is provided to a user in the form of a sheet. A flexible sheet has a front surface and a rear surface. The front surface of the flexible sheet has a grease resistant surface for repelling grease and sauces from finger foods being handled by the user. The flexible sheet has an adhesive layer on at least a portion of its rear surface, and a release sheet extending over the adhesive before the cover is used.
Each flexible sheet is dimensioned and configured to be secured to a user's finger. The flexible sheet has a central body portion that is approximately the same length and width as the user's finger to which it is to be applied. To hold the cover on a user's finger, tabs extend from the central body portion so that they may be wrapped around a user's finger. An upper tab extends from the upper end of the central body portion; a lower tab extends from the lower end of the central body portion; a left tab extends from the left side of the central body portion; and a right tab extends from the right side of the central body portion.
When the user is ready to don the disposable cover, the user removes the release sheet from the rear surface to expose the adhesive. The user then places the palmar surface of a finger on the adhesive surface of the central body portion, with the fingertip being positioned at or near the upper end of the central body portion, and the lower tab of the sheet extending under the palm of the hand. The user then folds the upper tab over the fingertip, and wraps the left and right tabs circumferentially around the finger. The pressure sensitive adhesive adheres the sheet to the finger.
Based on the food that a user is eating, the user may want more or less of the skin on their finger to be covered by the protective cover. The protective cover may be configured to substantially enshroud the finger, or it may be configured to cover the portions of the finger most likely to come in contact with grease and sauce when the user is eating. The sheet may be dimensioned so that the left and right tabs have terminal end portions that overlap when the left and right tabs are extended circumferentially around the finger. The adhesive on one tab secures that tab to the finger, and the adhesive on the other tab secures the tabs to each other.
The cover may be dimensioned to cover any of the fingers on a user's hand. For example, a cover may be configured to be secured to a thumb, an index finger, or a middle finger. The covers may be provided as a set of covers dimensioned to be fitted to multiple fingers.
The cover may have one adhesive region on the rear surface, or it may have multiple adhesive regions on the rear surface. For example, there may be an adhesive region located toward the upper end of the cover and an adhesive region located toward the lower end of the cover.
Accordingly, among the objects of the instant invention are: the provision of disposable protective finger covers for preventing grease and sauce from messy finger foods from getting all over one's fingers and hands while eating.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying photographs.